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Title: Section 34-1.2 - Definitions

Effective Date

12/26/2001

34-1.2 Definitions. Whenever used in this Subpart, unless the context of this Subpart clearly requires otherwise, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(a) "Clinical laboratory services" shall mean the microbiological, immunological, chemical, hematological, biophysical, cytological, pathological, genetic or other examination of materials derived from the human body, for the purposes of obtaining information for the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of disease, or the assessment of a health condition.

(b) "Fair market value" shall mean the value in arms length transactions, consistent with the general market value, and, with respect to rentals or leases, the value of rental property for general commercial purposes, not taking into account its intended use, and, in the case of a lease of space, not adjusted to reflect the additional value the prospective lessee or lessor would attribute to the proximity or convenience to the lessor where the lessor is a potential source of patient referrals to the lessee.

(c) "Financial relationship" shall mean an ownership interest, investment interest or compensation arrangement.

(d) "General hospital" shall mean a hospital engaged in providing medical or medical and surgical services primarily to in-patients by or under the supervision of a physician on a twenty-four hour basis with provisions for admission or treatment of persons in need of emergency care and with an organized medical staff and nursing service, including facilities providing services relating to particular diseases, injuries, conditions or deformities. The term general hospital shall not include a residential health care facility, public health center, diagnostic center, treatment center, out-patient lodge, dispensary and laboratory or central service facility serving more than one institution.

(e) "Group practice" shall mean a group of two or more practitioners organized as a partnership, professional corporation, foundation, not-for-profit corporation, faculty practice plan or similar association; and

(1) in which each practitioner who is a member of the group provides substantially the full range of services which the practitioner routinely provides, including medical care, consultation, diagnosis or treatment, through the joint use of shared office space, facilities, equipment and personnel; and

(2) for which substantially all of the services of the practitioners who are members of the group are provided through the group and are billed in the name of the group and amounts so received are treated as receipts of the group; and

(3) in which the overhead expenses of the income from the practice are distributed in accordance with methods previously determined by members of the group; and

(4) provided, however, in the case of a faculty practice plan associated with a hospital with an approved residency training program in which practitioner members may provide a variety of different specialty services and provide professional services both within and outside the group, as well as perform other tasks such as research, the provisions of paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) of this subdivision shall be applied only with respect to the services provided within the faculty practice plan.

(f) "Health care provider" shall mean a practitioner in an individual practice, group practice, partnership, professional corporation or other authorized form of association, a hospital or other health care institution issued an operating certificate pursuant to the public health law or the mental hygiene law, a certified home health agency or a licensed home care services agency, and any other purveyor of health or health related items or services including but not limited to a clinical laboratory, a physiological laboratory, a pharmacy, a purveyor of x-ray or imaging services, a purveyor of physical therapy services, a purveyor of health or health related supplies, appliances or equipment, or an ambulance service.

(g) "Health or health related items or services" shall include, but not be limited to, items and services available under the medical assistance program pursuant to title eleven of article five of the social services law.

(h) "Immediate family member" shall include spouse; natural and adoptive parents, children and siblings; stepparents, stepchildren and step-siblings; fathers-in-law, mothers-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law; and grandparents and grandchildren.

(i) "Interested investor" shall mean, with respect to a health care provider, an investor who is a practitioner in a position to make or to influence referrals or business to the health care provider, or who is an immediate family member of such an investor.

(j) "Investor" shall mean, with respect to a health care provider, a person with a financial relationship with the health care provider, subject to the exceptions provided in paragraph (b) of subdivision three, subdivision four and paragraph (b) of subdivision five of section 238(a) of the Public Health Law. (k) "Ownership interest" or "investment interest" shall mean an interest through equity, debt, or other means, but shall not include ownership of investment securities, including shares or bonds, debentures, notes or other debt instruments, which were purchased on terms generally available to the public and which are in a corporation that is listed for trading on the New York stock exchange or on the American stock exchange, or is a national market system security traded under an automated interdealer quotation system operated by the national association of securities dealers, and had, at the end of the corporation's most recent fiscal year, total assets exceeding one hundred million dollars.

(l) "Pharmacy services" shall mean the preparing, compounding, preserving or, the dispensing of drugs, medicines and therapeutic devices on the basis of prescriptions or other legal authority.

(m) "Practitioner" shall mean a licensed or registered physician, dentist, podiatrist, chiropractor, nurse, midwife, physician assistant or specialist assistant, physical therapist, or optometrist.

(n) "Rural" shall mean a county with population of two hundred thousand persons or less, or a town with a population density of one hundred fifty persons or less per square mile.

(o) "X-ray or imaging services" shall mean diagnostic imaging techniques which shall include but not be limited to the following:

(1) conventional x-ray or radiology;

(2) fluoroscopy;

(3) digital radiography;

(4) computed tomography;

(5) magnetic resonance imaging;

(6) nuclear imaging;

(7) ultrasonography; and

(8) angiography.

(p) "Radiation therapy services" shall mean the use of high-energy xrays, particles, or radiation materials for the treatment of cancer and other diseases or conditions. (q) Effective December 8, 2002, "physical therapy services" shall mean physical therapy as defined by section sixty-seven hundred thirty-one of the Education Law.

Volume

VOLUME A-1 (Title 10)

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